Şevket Pamuk

Yeşim Arat

Since the 1980 military coup in Turkey, much of the history and politics of the country can be described as a struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. In this accessible account of the country's politics, society and economics, the authors delve into the causes and processes of what has been called a democratic 'backsliding'. In order to explore this, Yeşim Arat and Şevket Pamuk, two of Turkey's leading social scientists, focus on the mutual distrust between the secular and Islamist groups. They argue that the attempts by a secular coalition to circumscribe the Islamists in power had a boomerang effect. The Islamists struck back first in self-defence, then in pursuit of authoritarian power. With chapters on urbanization, Kurdish nationalism, women's movements, economic development and foreign relations, this book offers a comprehensive and lively examination of contemporary Turkey and its role on the global stage.

Turkey between Democracy and Authoritarianism

An accessible introduction to the processes which shape politics and economics in contemporary Turkey.

Examines the experiences of women activists of the Islamist Refah (Welfare) party in Turkey. In Turkey, no secular party has approximated the high levels of membership and intense activism of women within the Islamist Refah (Welfare) Party. Rethinking Islam and Liberal Democracy examines the experiences of these women, who represented an unprecedented phenomenon within Turkish politics. Using in-depth interviews, Yeşim Arat reveals how the women of the party broadened the parameters of democratic participation and challenged preconceived notions of what Islam can entail in a secular democratic polity. The women of the party successfully mobilized large groups of allegedly apolitical women by crossing the boundaries between the social and the political, reaching them through personal networks cultivated in private spaces. The experiences of these women show the contentious relationship between liberal democracy and Islam, where liberalism that prioritizes the individual can transform, coexist, or remain in tension with Islam that prioritizes a communal identity legitimized by a sacred God. Yeşim Arat is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. She is the author of The Patriarchal Paradox: Women Politicians in Turkey and the coeditor (with Barbara Laslett and Johanna Brenner) of Rethinking the Political: Gender, Resistance, and the State.

Islamist Women in Turkish Politics

Rethinking Islam and Liberal Democracy

An investigation that reveals the paradoxical nature of the patriarchal ties that bind Turkish women politicians. These women are also Muslim women expressing themselves in a political medium both secular and democratic, yet in a context in which neither secular nor democratic politics is firmly embedded.

Yeşim Arat

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